A Dangerous Sign
by Falcon's Jade
Summary: Hellsing xover. After a battle with the Rosenkreuz, Abel and Esther are flung back in time to when Nosferatu are the threats. Joining up with Alucard and Seras, trouble comes when they learn that they're not the only ones thrown into the past...
1. Chapter 1

**And I'm picking up writing again after a plot bunny wouldn't go away…**

**This is a Trinity Blood and Hellsing crossover story. I couldn't help noticing the similarities, so there. While TB is a more recent interest, I have to admit Hellsing was something a bit in the past. Just leave a review regarding any errors I might have made in this story. **

"Father Nightroad? Father Nightroad!"

"Esther! Over here! How are you doing? Any injuries?"

"Just a shoulder wound…Father…where are we?"

"Don't speak yet, can you climb up from there? Here, grab my hand."

A red-haired nun looked up from where she was sitting to where a silver-haired priest stood. Careful not to further injury her wound, Sister Esther Blanchett grasped Father Abel Nightroad's hand with her left. There was a sharp tug, and Esther was promptly lifted from where she sat in what appeared to be a part of the floor that had caved in. Back to solid floor, Esther dusted herself off before looking around in the ruined building the two of them were currently in.

"Where…?"

"I don't know, I don't even know how we got here."

Esther looked around, trying to grasp her bearings. The old, abandoned, and not to mentioned ruined building that now greet her eyes was not somewhere she recognized. A shelf carried several old books, of which a majority of them appeared to be in disrepair. There was a bed at the side, but it appeared to be unused. Besides having a hole where the floor had caved in, dirt streaked the surface, as typical of an abandoned building. The lack of dust, however, indicated that someone might have been here recently. Esther wanted to ask Abel more questions about the place, but he appeared to be as clueless as she was. Deciding to further explore her new environment, she strode forward to the door, only to wince and grasp her shoulder again. Abel quickly noticed.

"Esther" He moved forward to examine the wound, and then sighed. "Let's treat the wound first, while it's not particularly serious, leaving it unattended will no be a good idea." He led her to the bed, and while she stayed still he rummaged about in the room, finally pulling out a first aid kit. It was also old, and judging by the way Abel had to shake the dust off, also unused.

"Normally I'll wait till I can ask the owner for permission, but since they're absent and you're injured, I think I'll just have to apologize to them later and see if I can repay the favour some other time." Esther nodded silently, not trusting herself to speak yet. Abel rolled her sleeve up and began treating the wound carefully.

"Like I said, the wound isn't serious. Considering we were fighting against Auto-Jagers and two Rosenkruez members at the same time, that's lucky."

XXXXXXX

The two AX members didn't know where they currently were, but they were about to find out. Not far from the same old building the two were currently resting in was a small military camp. This camp also worked in the name of a religious organization. Not the Vatican, in fact not even Catholic, but Protestant. Post-Armageddon's strongest surviving religion may be Catholicism, but Pre- Armageddon was a time of many religious. For England, the country that was once named Albion and will once again be Albion after Armageddon, the strongest religion was Protestant, and instead of the Vatican they had the Hellsing Organization.

Like the Vatican and AX agency, the organization was almost military-like, employing soldiers and other fighters to fight against those who oppose God and/or serve as a threat to humankind. The greatest threat to humankind was vampires, not Methuselah, but real vampires: Nosferatu. The Hellsing organization, unlike the Vatican of its time, fight them using all means – including employing vampires to fight against vampires. Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing, the leader, currently has two vampires under her command – Alucard, Class A vampire, and Seras Victoria, a vampire servant.

Because the Vatican of its time refused to ally itself with the 'heathen', the Hellsing Organization generally do not get along with the Vatican or its Iscariot Organization, the Vatican's military. Despite their similar goals of hunting down rogue vampires, the Iscariot agents usually end up clashing with the Hellsing agents, which only deepened the hatred between the two. Though a temporally truce was silently agreed upon that the organizations stayed within their own territories, the peace between the two was as fragile as the Vatican and New Human Empire of Post-Armageddon.

This was one of those cases. The military camp was set in England because its latest problem was in England, and as a result it was pretty much guaranteed that the Catholics will not interfere. Integra had received news of rogue vampires working on their usual tricks again, generally killing people and turning them into ghouls. Though it wasn't as serious as some of the cases they have seen, the point was to stop the vampire _before_ it becomes that serious. They tracked the vampires down to the outskirts of town, hiding in one of the old and abandoned buildings, but it was unconfirmed how many vampires there were. They've managed to confirm two, but there was a chance there will be more.

Hence why it was decided that they send in their trump cards Alucard and Seras.

Currently the two were standing at attention in front of Integra. The woman held up two photos, a man named Will and a woman named Barbara "These two are your main targets, but there is a chance that there will be more vampires involved. There will also be plenty to ghouls to deal with, but I trust you two will have no problems with them."

"An unconfirmed amount of vampires" Alucard smirked "sounds like fun. I'll deal with them and Police Girl here can handle the ghouls."

"As usual, and its Seras Victoria" The vampire servant groaned.

"No matter, just take out the vampires and its ghouls. Once again, if the noise attracts a civilian stupid enough to play explorer, make sure not to kill him. I don't want a repetition of the time I had the Vatican breathing down my neck."

"He never died!" Seras exclaimed.

"But he caused quite a stir" Integra lit up a cigar "enough talk. Move out, you two" Alucard smirked, orange sunglasses gleaming in the light, before taking his leave and heading for the building. Seras followed, in a not-so-sinister manner.

XXXXXXXX

While Esther rested on the bed, Abel made his way out of the room to explore the building. At a quick glance, it appeared to be abandon, but Abel found traces of residence pretty quickly. The lack of dust and fresh foot prints were just two examples. He moved around, looking for the building's occupants, but gradually he grew more wary of the place. He realized he didn't like it; there was a heavy and sinister atmosphere in the air. Almost without intention, his footsteps became lighter and his breathing quieter, as if trying to hide from an unseen force.

Meanwhile, Esther sat silently on the bed, waiting for Abel to return. Though it took much convincing, Esther finally agreed to stay behind and rest for a while. She was injured at the moment; therefore her marksmanship will not be in top quality. If they went out and end up being forced to fight, she would only be a burden.

From behind, she heard the door open. Esther didn't turn around "Father Nightroad, I've been trying to think of how we got here, but logic tells me its impossible for us to be at another place so suddenly unless there was an explosion of sorts and yet there was none…" the sound of a gun clicking stopped her. The red-haired nun turned around and froze, because the person at the door wasn't Abel, Abel would never point a gun at her.

Seras stared in shock at the supposed vampire across from her. That was the only conclusion she could come to, because the girl across from her was definitely no ghoul. The 'vampire' was not Barbara, she was too young, probably just around Seras' age, but their difference couldn't have been more obvious. Unlike Seras' arguably modern-styled clothing, the girl wore the modest dress of a nun. Whereas Seras had blond hair, hers was a vivid red. The vampire also had impossibly large eyes, giving her an image of purity and innocence, which contrasted Seras' own narrowed cat-like ones.

"You…"

Seras recovered from her shock when the red-haired girl pulled out a gun, not as large as hers, but still lethal. Acting on instinct, the vampire servant fired, blowing the gun out of Esther's hands. The nun was not daunted; she leapt into the air and lunged at Seras, giving a well-aimed kick to the large gun, disarming Seras as well. The Sister threw a punch forward, but Seras blocked it. A hiss escaped her lips, revealing fangs to Esther.

"Methuselah!"

Seras didn't understand the word that her opponent said. Assuming it was some foreign language, she ignored it, and instead she threw her own fist forward. Though Esther was able to jump back, her injury slowed her down, and despite avoiding maximum pain the punch sent her reeling back. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Seras moved forward and sent a kick at the red-haired girl's direction. Once again, Esther moved enough to avoid most of the injury, but the force this time was enough to knock her to the ground. A cry escaped her lips her pain flared up her injured shoulder.

Seras retrieved her large gun and pointed it at Esther, only to freeze again at the scent of fresh blood. Her opponent remained at the floor, clutching her shoulder, which was now stained a crimson red. Seras stared, vampires did not bleed like that, and vampires would have also healed from that type of wound quickly. Esther was also gritting her teeth in pain, and for the first time Seras saw the lack of fangs.

A human, she had been fighting a human, and if the clothing was real then she had been fighting a Sister. But before she could apologize, question or help the human, she felt the barrel of a gun pressed behind her head "don't move."

Esther looked up at the voice, and saw Abel standing behind the 'Methuselah'. When Seras didn't move, Abel pushed the gun out of her hands before he addressed his injured companion "Esther, are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me," Esther answered. "Father Nightroad, wherever we are, we can't stay here for long without backup. Rogue Methuselah and large guns do _not_ make a good combination, for all we know we're at the base of another extremist group!"

"Yes," Abel agreed, gun still poised behind Seras' head "it does seem like it, we'll have to contact the others." No sooner had he said those words did he felt the barrel of another gun pressed behind his head. Judging by its size, it was a much bigger gun than Abel's. Esther froze again as she saw another stranger in the room, this time of a man even taller than Abel. The man also carried a gun, larger then Abel's though not as large as Seras', and judging by the sadistic smirk on his face he was probably very tempted to pull the trigger.

"Drop you gun, priest"

"You…" Abel couldn't believe that someone had sneaked up behind him when he was on high alert. "You're with her?" He indicated to Seras as he obediently dropped his gun. When the other man didn't lower his, Abel almost expected to be shot on the spot, but the man only continued speaking. "I'm not here to kill you, priest, at least not yet. What's your name, human?"

"Father Abel Nightroad" the silver-haired man replied "and my companion there is Sister Esther Blanchett." He didn't turn around yet, so he couldn't see the other man clearly, but at the corner of his eyes he saw dark hair and orange sunglasses, along with reddish-orange clothing. Esther, on the hand, could see the man clearly, and all her senses screamed Danger. When the man's smile grew, revealing pointed fangs, she reasonably panicked, but the man actually pulled the gun back from behind Abel's head.

"Go over to your friend's" Abel obeyed, moving to Esther's side and helping her to her feet. Then he turned to finally look at his attacker, who continued smirking "Exactly why are two humans, and of strict religious backgrounds, in a building that is marked as belonging to a vampire? Are you two from the Iscariot organization?"

"No," Abel answered. _The Iscariot organization? They perished even before the Armageddon started! Could it be…but that's impossible…_ "We are simply travelers who were planning to rest here for a while, as my companion is injured." _I better not tell them how…_ "If I may ask, who are you and what are you doing here?"

Seras glanced at Alucard, and when he gave no command she answered "I am Seras Victoria, and this is Alucard, we are both of the Hellsing Organization sent to deal with the vampire problem here."

"Aren't you a Met…vampire as well?" Abel corrected himself, earning an odd look from Esther.

"I figured you'll recognize us" Seras answered, mistaking Abel's question as a confirmation to them being Hellsing's trump cards. "I suggest the two of you leave this place quickly, this is Hellsing business, and the two of you will only be in danger when the ghouls or vampires attack."

"Ghouls?" Esther repeated, but from a look Abel shot her she quickly quieted. The others never noticed it, as a sudden thumping drew their attention "what's that?"

"Looks like the ghouls have arrived" Alucard smirked. "Police Girl, deal with them, I'll see if I can find the vampires, in the meantime, I suggest the two of you leave quickly before things get too dangerous for you; unless you need Police Girl to accompany you to safety?" In response, Esther and Abel pointed to their guns on the floor.

"We have our own defences, you've only caught us unprepared, but outside we'll be able to fight if the need arises." Abel smiled, and Seras was struck by how Abel also contrasted her master, just like how Esther did to her. Alucard laughed.

"If you say so, now Police Girl, let's go. Try holding them off for a while so the two humans can escape" the two of them quickly vanish out the door. Abel glanced at Esther and noticed the reopened wound, so he spoke even before Esther opened her mouth.

"No, Esther, you're still injured. We'll leave this business to them, let's go."

"What's going on, Father?" Esther asked as the two of them began to find a way out of the building "Hellsing Organization? Iscariot? Ghouls?"

"Esther…I know this might sound impossible…but I think we've been somehow sent to the past."

"What?!"

"Iscariot is the former military organization of the pre-Armageddon Vatican. Hellsing is Albion's, now England's, own religious military organization…" as the two navigated their way out of the large building, Abel told Esther all he knew of the times. Esther found it hard to believe, but when she saw her first stray ghoul reality was forced upon her. Abel shot it down quickly, and Esther became aware of how she was slowing their progress out the building down with her injury.

She suddenly remembered her first encounter with Ion Fortuna, and realized this must have been how he felt like at the time.

Thundering footsteps brought her out of her thoughts. Abel, too, sensed the danger and tried to speed up their process, but it wasn't good enough. A good amount of ghouls suddenly appeared in front of them, forcing them to draw out their guns. The ghouls, seeing the two of them, moved forward.

"Esther, stay behind me" Abel ordered as be began firing his gun. Esther shook her head.

"Sorry, Father, but I can't just stand still"

"You're injured!"

"I'll be worst condition if I let them overpower us. I'm not going to be your burden, Father" she held out her own gun and began firing. The ghouls began falling, but more and more of them were approaching and replacing the dead. At the rate they were going, Abel knew they were going to be cornered.

Then a rain of bullets fell upon the ghouls from behind, and the two AX agents saw Seras standing behind the ghouls "what are you two waiting for? Hurry up! The exit's just this way!" Abel would have thanked her, but Esther already screamed something.

"Seras! Behind you!"

Seras managed to jump out of the way as several bullets rooted themselves to where she was standing earlier. Looking up, the three of them saw a woman with a firearm and a pair of sharp fangs – Seras recognized her as Barbara, one of the target vampires.

"My, looks like we have three rats who have snuck in" the vampire sneered, and continued firing several bullets. Seras jumped out of the way and landed closer to the ghouls then intended. Quickly preoccupied with the ghouls, she shouted "Can you two deal with vampire?!"

"Of course" Abel began firing several rounds at the vampire, who despite moving out of the way was grazed by several of them. Esther narrowed her eyes, this vampire was the exact type she despised, so she acted without pity when she took aim and fired. Dead blood sprouted out from the wound on the vampire's arm.

"What…damn you Hellsing dogs!" Neither Esther nor Abel bothered correcting that assumption as the two of them engaged the vampire in a duel. Because the three of them were frequently moving and jumping, without intention, Abel and Esther suddenly jumped out of a broken window and realized that they were outside the building at last. Their troubles weren't over, as without warning the vampire jumped out after them. Abel couldn't move fast enough, the vampire threw a heavy object forward and Esther's cry of pain pierced the air.

"Esther!"

Abel watched in horror as Esther fell. When she finally landed, Abel saw her eyes were closed. He raced forward and knelt down beside her, she was still alive and there was no blood, he thanked God for that, but the vampire's laughter snapped him out of further thought.

"GAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Can't you see you humans can't win us? Don't worry, I'll drain you both dry so you two will be my new ghouls!" The hysterical laughter sent a ringing in Abel's ears as a cold fury consumed him. He stood up, staring at the vampire with cold eyes, before speaking.

"Originally I was planning to simply arrest you and hand you over, but I think I've changed my mind." A slender hand reached up and removed his glasses. "Nanomachine Crusnik 02, initiating operation at 40 percent, activate"

"What the…?" The vampire stared as the air suddenly seemed to still. The ponytail that the Father had tied his hair back in loosened and lifted up, as if reaching for the sky, resulting in the appearance of a spiked silver crown. Sky-blue eyes suddenly glowed and turned red, but most important were the fangs that slowly grew out from his teeth.

"You're…not human" Barbara stated in shock "don't tell me…one of us?!"

"No, but close enough. Have you never thought about something like this?" Abel asked. "Human beings eat animals and plants, vampires suck the blood of those human beings, then shouldn't it make sense that something out there will live on the blood of vampires?" The vampire was terrified at what the situation was turning to, but she tried to talk her way out.

"Why are you with the humans? Even if we are different, you are closer to us then you are with the humans are you not? We can work together…"

"I have no interest in making an army of ghouls, nor do I take pleasure in the ruthless killing you seem to so enjoy" Abel raised a clawed hand, and a scythe made of blood appeared. "Repent, and you can start by first telling me who you are working with."

"Like hell I'll tell you!"

"So be it"

There was a flash of red, and the vampire screamed as she was cut horizontally from her waist. She stared up at Abel, who now towered over her like some sort of demon. "Normally I'll be more patient and try to ask for more information, but what you have done to my companion is unforgivable. Goodbye, vampire" There was another flash of red, and one last scream, before the vampire was finally killed off.

Abel had heard that once head vampires were kill, the ghouls would no longer be a threat, but either he heard wrong or his source was incorrect because when he looked up he saw ghouls heading his way. Abel's eyes narrowed, for one second he considered picking up Esther and just running, but he soon realized that wouldn't work. An inhuman snarl escaped his lips as he realized he would have to fight quickly so that Esther wouldn't die from the wound. Raising his scythe once more, he lunged forward and attacked.

XXXXXXX

The remains of what were once ghouls surrounded the Crusnik as he reverted back to his human form. Not wasting any time, he hurried to Esther's side "Esther! Esther!"

"I'm fine" Esther's voice was strained, but to Abel that was one of the best sounds he had ever heard, knowing that Esther was still alive. He knelt down and pulled Esther up to his side.

"Let's go, Esther"

But the next thing he knew a strong helicopter light shone at them, temporally blinding him. There was the sound of many guns clicking and the footsteps of many men. When his eyes recovered, Abel squinted against the light and saw what appeared to be troops of humans marching forward, stopping at a distance of several feet, but their guns were all pointed at him and Esther. Abel felt Esther's grip on him tightened, but neither of them said anything. In fact, somebody asked the question for them.

"Master?" Alucard stepped out of the building, closely followed by Seras, both of them looking like they have had a good workout carrying out their duties. Neither of them appeared to know what was going on as they stared at the troops, all mobilized as if for another war. "May I ask about the meaning of this?"

A woman stepped out from the group. Abel saw she had long pale hair and dark skin; she also wore a serious and cold expression. Those merciless eyes were pinned on Abel even as she addressed her subordinates "you two left two threats out. I told you before that there was an unconfirmed amount of vampires and ghouls in the building, but it appears that there's something else altogether as well."

"Two more threats?" Alucard repeated "Master, he may be Catholic but…"

"Enough, Alucard" Integra snapped "look around you, the ghouls and vampire being dispatched so easily and quickly should already indicate something to you. I've seen how he's done it, and you will be informed of it later."

"You think I'm some sort of…monster?" Abel asked softly.

"No," Esther shook her head "this is a misunderstanding! Father Nightroad isn't a monster…" The redhead sensed more then saw the gun aimed at Abel's direction by a soldier positioned on one of the trucks that had transported the troops. Despite her dizziness from her wound she realized what was going to happen.

"Father!" She pushed Abel down just before the bullet pierced her side. Abel fell to the floor and watched in horror as Esther fell once more, except this time, the wound could be fatal. The redhead's eyes closed and her body became still.

"Esther!" Abel caught her before she hit the ground. "Esther, hang on! Esther!" Scarlet was soaking through Esther's white robes, and they stained Abel's black as well. The Crusnik trembled with silent fear and agony "Esther!" He wasn't given the chance to grieve, a second bullet flew and grazed his cheek before embedding itself in a wall. Abel felt his own blood trickle down from his new wound, and he froze once more.

Integra had not passed the order to kill the two, but nor did she explicitly said to take them alive. When one of her men fired the first bullet, she simply took the opportunity as well. As she wished, Abel's attention went back to her "You…" Abel turned to look at the woman. Her authoritive behaviour was almost like Catherina's, but Catherina would never try something like this. "This isn't about this child, it's about me. I'm the monster, she isn't!"

"Master, please listen!" Seras tried to explain "I fought with her! Whatever assumption you have, she at least is definitely human!" Judging by Integra's expression, the woman had realized it as well. The blood pouring from the Sister's wound was too fresh, too human.

"She is unrelated" Abel continued. "I don't care what you do with me, but please save her!"

Integra looked at his expression, and saw the genuine concern and fear, fear that the girl would die. Whatever relationship those two shared, they obviously cared deeply for the other. The redhead had taken a bullet meant for him, and now to save her he appeared to be close to begging. A slight conscience tugged in her as she acknowledged that the Sister was a human, like her, and she knew what she will do.

"Let's make a deal" Integra proposed. "If you surrender quietly, I will save that girl."

Abel looked at her, looked back at Esther, possibly dying in his arms, and closed his eyes. "You'll keep your word?"

"I swear it upon my life" and that was all that Abel could hope for. He gently lowered Esther to the ground before standing up and moving a few steps away.

"Alucard" Integra ordered.

Abel soon found himself unceremoniously shoved face first against the wall, Alucard's gun behind his head, while another hand held both Abel's hands behind him. But the Crusnik offered no complaint as he heard Integra ordering her troops to take Esther to the hospital. He watched as a stretcher arrived and Esther was carefully placed on it, before she disappeared from his sight.

Abel didn't put up much resistance when he was roughly tied and blindfolded despite his glasses. His gun was removed and his wrists were bound so tightly that the ropes cut into his skin. The wound on his cheek was ignored as the soldiers secured him. When he felt a tranquiller gun pressed against him his last thought was still of Esther.

_Wait for me, __I promise that I'll definitely come for you. _

And not far away, in the old and ruined building that was situated beside the one that now had ghoul remains all over its surface, two people watched as the Hellsing troops took away the two AX agents. One of the observers was tall with long dark hair, while the other was slender with the face of an angel, but most definitely the heart of the devil.

"So we've been thrown into the twentieth century of Pre-Armageddon," the smaller figure smiled "I bet even you didn't expect this."

"It certainly was unexpected," the taller man replied "but I had been testing the experiment for a while, Marionettenspieler."

"Don't I know it, Panzer Magier"

**I watched ****anime episodes subbed, and haven't seen the dubbed versions. So if some of the phrasing here is different then the dubbed versions, that's my reason.**

**I apologize now if I have turned the characters OOC, alright? Don't flame me for it, civilly critic me **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to all my reviewers! Looks like the story has started off pretty well, so I'm going to continue this fic. Inspiration comes from many places, but special thanks to the writer for "The Lost Priest", Millie M. Banshee, for her help! **

A hooded and cloaked figure swayed almost unsteadily on their feet before standing attentively. Behind it, another figure did the same. Another rouse, followed by another, until about a whole army of the figures stood in front of the young man inspecting them. All of the cloaked figures were tall, strong, and unfeeling. Of course, corpses can't actually feel, can they?

A cruel smile spread out over a slender face.

An axe was dropped in front of each cloaked figures' feet. Slowly, the cloaked figures bent down and picked them up. There was no heavy breathing or grunt from the figures as they lifted the heavy object. Any observant person would know from there these figures were…inhuman, for the lack of a better word. Hence why all these cloaked figures wore gas masks. It would appear as if those breaths were simply muffled. Their movements were slow now, but they were very capable of moving quickly.

They were the Auto Jagars, the foot soldiers of the Rosenkruez Orden, the toys of one Marionettenspieler.

The owner of the slender face, Dietrich von Lohengrin, smiled as he watched his puppets moved; looks as if more then enough of them had been transported with him back in time. Light chocolate brown hair framed his angelic features, but his red-brown eyes spoke of a deep malice. His puppets straightened, their weapons poised, awaiting his orders. Orders which he would deliver with a mere swish of his fingers, and they will depart on his command.

"What are you doing, Marionettenspieler?"

The boy didn't even turn around to acknowledge his mentor's presence, but he answered truthfully "I'm bored, and I want to enter the stage of this current world."

"You are preparing soldiers; I take it you don't plan to go out yourself yet." The taller man observed. Dietrich's smile grew more arrogant.

"I don't know how interesting it is outside first, and I might as well see how much they can handle."

"You and I both know that those two are in custody"

"The Inquisition Squad of our time is cruel, and more then often hear only what they want to hear. If Hellsing is anything like that, the Father and Esther will not last long. I am, in my own way, helping them for now." He looked over his soldier to where Issak stood. "Don't deny it, you as well will prefer having someone you know to torture for a while." Without waiting for an answer, the boy moved to the side again. He sat down in front of a desk which had a computer sitting on top of it.

"This one's a pretty old model, but it should do the trick. I just wish to deliver a little message, to both the cultist group and our…_acquaintances_."

Issak smiled, but said nothing. Dietrich turned back to his puppets and gave them one simple order.

"Attack the Hellsing Headquarters"

XXXXXXX

It was like any old interrogation room, nothing special. A plain room, a table, a few chairs, and a mirror that was no doubt for other observers to secretly watch the proceedings. There was a polygraph set up as well, fitting for its time. A bright light caused Abel to blink and squint for a few seconds, before his eyes readjusted to being free from the blindfold and his senses cleared from whatever drug they had given him.

Across the table sat two men, both uniformed and bearing guns – no doubt to be used in case he tried anything they considered a threat. Though they tried to hide it, Abel could tell that the men were tense and desperately wanted to be out of here. The two must have been among the troops that had arrested him, since Abel knew his first appearance wouldn't have scared anyone. No, these men must have seen his Crusnik form.

Abel looked back at the polygraph. By his time, polygraphs were ruled as inadmissible evidence, even before Armageddon started a majority of the countries had decided it won't be evidence in court**(A/N: Europe and Canada are two examples as they no longer consider polygraphs as evidence due to the numerous ways a person can trick them. Some jurisdictions in the US still use them, but not all. Polygraphs are still commonly used for screening potential government employees in many places)**. He briefly considered tricking the results, but knew that the men most likely wouldn't appreciate the joke, so he decided against it.

"Good, you're awake" the larger man spoke. "Judging by your actions, you seem to know what's going on, so let's cut to the chase. Name?"

"Abel Nightroad" Abel answered truthfully.

"Occupation?"

"Traveling Priest"

"Age?"

Abel paused, unsure of how to answer that. He wasn't a very good liar, so he knew he couldn't deceive the polygraph. "Do you really need to know?"

"Answer the question"

"You won't believe me if I tell you"

"Answer the question!"

"It's not…"

"ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION!"

"Okay," Abel huffed "If you really wanted to know, I'm about nine hundred years old"

Long silence greeted his response. Abel watched them calmly; well aware that the polygraph was recording his steady heartbeat.

"Vampire?" One of them tried.

"He can't be" the other said, almost shaky "if he was, there would be no heartbeat in the first place!"

"Correct, I am not a vampire, I am a Crusnik"

XXXXXXX

"As the two of you know, we had surveillance cameras set up to watch the building earlier." Integra explained as Alucard and Seras followed her to another room. "We managed to get some footage of the threat, so you can see for yourself what happened."

"Sir Integra, may I ask, what happened to the Sister?" Seras questioned.

"As promised, she is being treated by our best doctors. She will recover; they've managed that, at least." The three of them entered the room. There was already a soldier there, along with a television. Seeing the trio, the soldier silently pushed a tape in and clicked PLAY.

The video was of poor quality, but it was good enough for the two vampires to recognize the place as the outside of the building, just where they had taken Abel into custody. The tape had obviously been prepared for viewing, because in just a few seconds, Abel and Esther appeared on screen as they jumped out of a broken window. The vampire Barbara followed them shortly afterwards and threw a heavy object. It hit Esther at the side of her head, and she fell. Seras couldn't help wincing in pity. The static and poor sound quality didn't make it clear what Abel said, but judging by his actions he had called out Esther's name.

Abel then ran to Esther's side, examining for an injury, but was distracted when the vampire finally emerged. The vampire was laughing with hysterical, and the change in Abel's expression couldn't have been more obvious. The Father stood and removed his glasses before saying a few words that the observers couldn't hear clearly enough. The metamorphosis the Father then went through stunned even Seras and Alucard.

Flaming, ruby-red eyes took over sapphire blue. Silver hair lifted and formed a crown of glittering spikes, thorn-like but still regal. Pearly white teeth gleamed in the dim light, while sharp claws shone in lethal beauty, and as he spoke to the vampire a magnificent red scythe flowed out of his hand. A few more words were exchanged, before Abel attacked. While the vampire, now only existing with half its body, lay staring in terror Abel gave her a few more words. Then the scythe lifted again, there was a flash of red, a scream, and the vampire was finished.

Alucard whistled.

Abel looked as if he was about to go to Esther, but the arrival of more ghouls stopped him. There was only a second's hesitation as the Father's eyes went from Esther, to the ghouls, then back to the ghouls. Then the decision was made, and Abel leapt forward and attacked. It wasn't much longer before only the remains of the ghouls surrounded him. Abel knelt down, picked up his gun, and pocketed it. Almost smoothly, his hair then flowed back down, the eyes shifted back to blue, and the vampiric traits, along with the scythe, disappeared. Abel quickly tied up his hair before kneeling down to Esther's side. He tenderly pulled her up to his side, before a strong light was suddenly flung over them. Integra than stopped the tape and turned back to Alucard and Seras, the former had a large grin on his face.

"Ha! The young Father looks quite interesting, Master! He certainly looks like fun!"

"Sir Integra…what _is_ he?" Seras asked. "He doesn't look like the typical vampire or ghoul"

"I, too, don't believe him to be of those two categories" Integra turned to put the tape away "and judging by your reaction, Alucard, you don't recognize his form either"

"No, I've never seen anything like him" The grin spreading over Alucard's face would have made the devil proud. The two women realized what Alucard wanted, and Integra refused to allow it.

"Don't you dare kill him, Alucard, at least not until we know what he is and why he's here."

Alucard frowned, but stayed where he was. As it turns out, he soon got another chance to fight.

"Sir Integra!" The woman turned as a soldier ran in, panting heavily. One look at the man told her they were in trouble, the man was bleeding and injured. He stared at her with wide, frightened eyes "We're being attacked!!"

"WHAT?!"

"What's the situation?" Seras asked.

"We don't seem to be getting attacked from your average ghouls! They were cloaked and wearing gas masks! You'll think we can get rid of them quickly with our firepower, but its not working! They wouldn't stop attacking!"

"Have you at least discovered who or where the head vampire is?!"

"No! Security checked the tapes, but there's nothing! We're literally just being attacked by canon folder!"

"Sir Integra, could it be some new FREAK vampires?" Seras voiced out.

"Possibly" The Hellsing heir chewed hard on her cigar. "Alucard, Seras, deal with those invaders. I'll see if I can organize our troops quickly."

"I hope the attackers are as interesting as this Abel" Alucard mused, though he didn't sound too hopeful.

XXXXXXX

There was a ringing noise in the interrogation room, and upon hearing the noise the two men questioning Abel looked at each other in surprise and a hint of fear. Abel looked at them curiously and watched them exchange words.

"That's a signal telling us we're under attack, right?"

"I think it means evacuate if needed, fight if possible?"

"But since we have a prisoner here, I guess that means we evacuate" The two men nodded and addressed Abel "Okay, let's just do this the easy way. Follow us out, unless you want to get into the line of crossfire"

"Of course" None of them brought up the fact that Abel could easily join in the defence of the Hellsing Headquarters. The three men simply unattached Abel from the polygraph and left the room, heading to an exit; or at least, that had been the plan. When a large blade sudden swing at them, the three jumped back, away from the exit and closer into the building.

A cloaked figure wearing a gas mask moved in front of them, a large axe in his hand. The two Hellsing soldiers braced themselves and each drew out a gun, which they began firing. The Auto Jagar seemed to flinch and fall back, but that was only probably due to the first shock. It passed quickly as it lurched forward and swung his axe down. One of the men didn't move fast enough, and a blood curdling screech filled the air before dead silence followed. Abel's eyes widened as he stared at the attacker.

"Auto Jagars?!"

It didn't response, but merely focused its attention onto the other soldier, who soon became too busy dodging the attacks to question Abel's knowledge about these new invaders. Abel, never one to simply watch a fight, snatched the gun up from the dead soldier and fired. He mentally wished he had his own gun, but he didn't know where Hellsing had stored it, so he would have to use what he got.

Abel dodged a swipe from the axe, and couldn't help but wonder how the others were doing.

XXXXXXX

Seras fired her gun, again, and again. Across from her at the end of the hall, more and more masked figures carrying axes approached. Several of them were blown away by the force of Seras' gun, but others continued moving forward. She was starting to pant now, but she loaded her gun quickly and started firing again. This attack, though threatening, was not as serious as the one the Valentine brothers once launched, and for that, she was grateful.

Still didn't mean it was easy though.

The number of those attackers was tiring her out. Angry, frustrated, and hating the strong sense of déjà vu, Seras loaded up the gun again. This time, as she fired, she advanced forward. The bullets went off at a faster rate, and more of those masked figures fell. Their gas masks and cloaks prevented her from identifying them, but mentally she classified them as another band of FREAK vampires.

Eventually she got closer to the outside. There was a momentarily silence as she regarded the area, littered with those cloaked FREAK vampire bodies. Her vampiric hearing picked up some more noise, and her eyes narrowed. She stormed forward to one of the windows and pointed her gun down. Without hesitation, she began firing again.

From below, those wraith-like figures were thrown off several feet back to the ground. Seras' eyes saw they were almost everywhere, crawling over the walls in an attempt to reach the windows and get inside. She sent another rain of bullets until ammunition ran out. As soon as she did, she dived out towards the balcony, which gave her more space to swing her large weapon, load it, and fire in several directions. It worked only for the first wave of those wraith-like FREAK vampires.

Three of them suddenly jumped up and threw their axes forward. Seras jumped out of the way, the axes digging deep into the floor she was standing on moments before. That little break was more then enough to allow a dozen or so of the invaders to run past her and jump inside the building.

Seras swore, and considered going after them, but the next wave of Auto-Jagars jumped up. She quickly started eliminating those figures, but the dozen that were inside escaped deep into the building.

Those dozen rushed into the building, slashing away anything that hindered them with their axes. It was pure coincidence when the group came upon the surveillance camera room. Sensing humans inside, they started hacking at the doors. The men inside tensed and drew out their guns. They waited with bated breath for their attacker's appearance, watching as the slash marks on the door grew bigger and bigger.

After a particularly hard slash, a good sized hole was torn through.

The masked head suddenly peered at the men, who tensed in fear. The hole wasn't big enough for the wraith-like creature, so it raised the axe again. A voice effectively stopped him "Wait."

The Auto-Jagar turned to the sound of the voice. An old man dressed as a butler stood there "That's as far as you go, vampire."

The masked figure didn't respond, merely turned to the butler and pounced. The butler, Walter Dornez AKA Angel of Death, only smiled viciously. Before the Auto-Jagar could react, silver wires were thrown into the air. The Auto-Jagar was promptly torn into pieces, and its kindred followed the same fate.

Once the remains of the creatures littered the floor, Walter straightened and looked around.

At another area, Alucard did the same to the Auto-Jagar remains now surrounding him. By his side was in injured soldier and Abel, uninjured and unharmed.

Seras stretched her neck as far as it could go, but there were no more movements.

There was a crackling at the intercom, and then Integra's voice, laboured with heavy breathing, echoed throughout the area "All soldiers report to the main lobby immediately, I have contacted for medics and the injuries will be attended to. All soldiers to the main lobby, and Alucard, please bring Nightroad there as well."

Alucard looked at Abel, who was helping support the injured soldier, and waved his hand "Let's go, priest."

Abel didn't argue, he went quietly. Neither of the two spoke to the other, and by the time they arrived, most of the living was already gathered. Alucard greeted Seras and Integra, both of which appeared relatively unharmed. They watched as Abel helped the injured soldier to a stretcher before Walter greeted them.

"I don't suppose any of you found a head vampire?"

"Nope," Seras shook her head. Integra looked around the room, eyes lingering on both Abel on their attackers.

"Gas masked attackers, the bizarre appearance of a Father who isn't something even Alucard knows, what is going on here?"

"Well, for someone of your generation, it's fine to not have any knowledge of my creations Miss Hellsing." A stranger's voice suddenly spoke up. Everyone in the room quickly tensed and looked around, but the owner of the voice wasn't standing there among them.

The security cameras on the wall suddenly blurred in static, before switching to a visual, except it wasn't of the corridors. All the small screens were suddenly showing a large visual of one boy. Chocolate brown hair elegantly framed his face, while rich red-brown eyes regarded them all with false sweetness. His skin was so pale he looked ghostly, but his features were obviously of a pretty sort. He sat regally on a smooth chair, an air of refined beauty surrounding him.

He almost looked like an angel, but at the same time, something of him spoke of a dark aura.

"Your latest attackers are some of my toys. I sent them here to test your forces, and though shaky, I will take note of the fact you dealt with them effectively. The few people who could deal with them are few, but you and your subordinates have become one of them. Of course, this attack was decided last minute, but you've shown me all your tactics and strengths, exactly as I have planned." Integra's eyes narrowed, from behind her Abel slowly stood up. Those red-brown eyes saw him quickly.

"Father Abel Nightroad, how have you been doing?"

"Dietrich" Abel returned, and he moved forward to the screen "So you decided to come along"

"Well, not intentionally" The boy laughed "As for you, to become a Hellsing hound so quickly, you really like mingling with the religious fanatics, don't you?" Abel frowned, but didn't rise to the bait or even tried to correct him. Dietrich lazily examined the room with his eyes before turning back to the Father.

"I see Esther isn't here yet, pity, I would have loved to see her. Ah well, knowing her, she will recover soon." Still smiling, he addressed Integra again. "Miss Hellsing, you are probably wondering what Abel and Esther are. I can tell you that Esther is human, and a very kind one at that. Our Vatican Father here may seem like a fool, but you have already seen his strengths, did you not? It is nowhere compared to his true potential, let me tell you that. He is more dangerous, and quite capable of giving even your Nosferatu a hard time."

"Dietrich" Abel spoke up "What are you planning now?"

"Plenty, but if I tell you, it wouldn't be as interesting, would it?" Dietrich countered mockingly "However, since I like Esther and Esther likes you, I should give you a clue shouldn't I?"

Abel's eyes narrowed "I can't trust you, the last time Esther did, you nearly killed all of us"

"Knowing the amount of times the two of you like to throw your life away for some other person or cause, you two would have preferred dying to starting another war anyways" Dietrich leaned back against his chair "How about for the sake of my amusement and my lord?"

Abel gritted his teeth, and Dietrich continued.

"_If you are going to miss out on hearing the melody I have prepared for this beautiful night, than I guess its fine for you to reflect on your powerlessness there_" He quoted. It took only a few seconds for Abel's thoughts to place those words into context, and his eyes widened.

"You can't do that here" Abel answered "you can't change the course of events!"

Dietrich tilted his head to one side "I can, and I will, as for changing the course of events, that's why you will have to stop me, isn't that correct?" Abel didn't say anything "After all, you're the one always trying to save lives. I will need time to prepare for taking them, of course, but it won't take long. Maybe you can tell Miss Integra here to prepare for the next part of my plans. Assuming you prepared for the right things, of course. Oh, and don't expect me to be quiet, I get bored quite easily, so expect more visits from my toys." Dietrich raised a white-gloved hand "And I think that's all I have for you now, see you." With those words, his image disappeared. Static replaced the screens before the visuals of the corridors returned.

When everyone had recovered from the initial shock, Integra whirled around to face her prisoner "He was responsible for the attack here?"

"Yes" Abel answered truthfully

"Who was he?"

Abel paused, it suddenly occurred to him that Dietrich's name might be recorded in history if he told them, but Abel was sure a 'Dietrich von Lohengrin' never existed in the records. So he answered vaguely "His name is Dietrich, also known as the Marionettenspieler."

"German descent?" Alucard guessed.

"Anything to do with Millennium?" Integra tried.

"Yes" Abel answered Alucard "No" he told Integra. She then folded her arms and looked at him.

"How did you know what I meant by Millennium?" She asked, suspicion obvious. Realizing his mistake, Abel's eyes widened. For a split second he saw hostility in her eyes, and even her words were ice.

"You arrive out of nowhere, appear in a building which is very obvious vampire-controlled, and reveal yourself as something the world has apparently never seen before."

Abel's body tensed.

"You appear to be very powerful, and according to the boy just a while ago, that wasn't even the true depth of your power."

He could sense which direction the conversation was going to go to.

"England has enough trouble with vampires and Hellsing has their hands full trying to keep Millennium at bay"

He drew in a sharp breath.

"The last thing we need is for you to be outside free like a loose canon that can obviously bring trouble."

It was amazing how much he can hear Catherina in her voice.

"Not to mention, this new threat the German boy brings is going to be more then what we can handle at the moment, and he seems to be focused on your presence."

She was going to order his death or imprisonment soon.

"So in order to come to a compromise, especially since the Sister is still in our hospital, I have a proposal for you."

Abel blinked, surprised, as she continued.

"Hellsing has to deal with rogue vampires and whatever Millennium has thrown out against us, it pains me to say this but if today's attack was last minute, there is no way we can handle an orchestrated attack from that boy's supposed 'toys'. More importantly, Hellsing can't deal with such attacks on three fronts. To counter such odds, I would like you to work for Hellsing temporally, at least until the threat is removed. You will be paid and if you wish, you may stay here with your own room. As incentive, it's not far from here to the hospital where the Sister is staying at. Of course, it is ultimately your choice."

Abel knew well enough that it wasn't 'ultimately his choice'. Integra knew he could be dangerous, and would probably pass an order to kill him should he refuse. What was more, he knew that him staying here gave Integra a chance to keep a close eye on him. Nevertheless, he had nothing in England and could guess he wouldn't survive long alone. Plus, as a Hellsing agent, visiting Esther would be much easier. He allowed himself some cheerfulness after the doom and gloom atmosphere.

"I'll really like to take you up on your offer! Thank you very much! I promise you I will work hard and do my best!" His loud and cheerful voice caused several people to jump, and even Integra nearly did so based on instinct. Luckily, she managed to stay calm and keep her dignity.

"I must let you know I am quite strict with my subordinates and will not tolerate failure."

"Sir Integra, I think I've picked that up early on already" Abel said this with a cheerful smile, indicating he meant no offence. Integra allowed the comment to slide as she addressed another person.

"Walter, take the Father here to one of our spare rooms. After today's events, you'll most likely want a shower and a bed to sleep in. We shall discuss your admission to Hellsing in more detail tomorrow night, and you are to tell me what being a 'Crusnik' truly means."

"One of the things is that I can sleep at night and walk in the sunlight" Abel answered "so, it may be during the day I will come to your office."

"Very well then" Integra nodded "Walter will come for you tomorrow; we will discuss further plans then." The two bid each other goodbye before Abel left, following Walter to the spare room. Once he was out of hearing range, Alucard turned to his master.

"You don't trust him, do you?"

"Of course not," Integra snapped "but I'll rather keep him here then let him loose outside. What's more, he is probably the only one here who could effectively deal with this new threat. I don't understand what is going on, but I can tell if I want to finish this new threat quickly, having the Father on my side would be more effective. Which reminds me…" She folded her arms, her gaze harsh "I will have to contact the Vatican and see whether Abel is really one of their clergymen."

"I doubt we need to" Alucard sneered "Once news of today's attack comes out, they'll come to us, if Abel really belonged to them. If not…they'll come anyways, and demand for information. Unless we cover the incident up really well" He let out a chuckle "A new threat and the Vatican again, here I thought Millennium was interesting."

**And Dietrich has made his move! Hellsing have taken Abel under their wing at last. Who's up next? **


End file.
